


Ad Astra

by Alexandria (heartfullofelves)



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, F/F, Lesbians in Space, M/M, Science Fiction, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 03:20:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4903558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartfullofelves/pseuds/Alexandria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwen is transferred to the elite Torchwood Squadron to fight in the biggest war Earth has ever known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ad Astra

**Author's Note:**

> “Ad astra” is a Latin phrase meaning “to the stars”. I can’t for the life of me remember how I know that.
> 
> As for relationships, there’s Janto (how could I resist?) and Gwen and Owen tension but the main one is Gwen/Tosh. If that ship isn’t for you or femslash isn’t your thing, you can probably interpret their relationship as a strong friendship (the same way Xena and Gabrielle’s can be…heh). I just really wanted to use the “Lesbians in space” AO3 tag.
> 
> Also, please forgive me for mangling military and ship/aircraft terminology. I did my best with Wikipedia and Google images, but even then there are inaccuracies.

_“It is in work that women get to know and care about each other”  
_ – Alice Walker, _The Color Purple_

Gwen Cooper’s first day with Torchwood 3 Flight had been nothing short of disastrous, she reflected as she showered and changed into a set of military supply pyjamas. Her new commander, Captain Jack Harkness, was a handsome and cocky American who’d been less than welcoming towards his newest transfer, and had thrown her in the deep end, straight into battle. Gwen had learnt the ropes already through years of experience, but a lapse in judgement or perhaps an over eagerness to fit in had caused her to throw all that away.

She’d been fine until then, keeping up with her new comrades as they defended the ship from enemy fire. But Harper had pissed her off by calling her “sweetheart”, and when he’d asked her to chuck him a screwdriver afterwards so he could adjust his laser cannon, she’d aimed for his head. How was she to know he had slow reflexes? The result had been an unconscious Harper and an incensed Captain Harkness, who ordered Jones to help carry Harper to med.

As she’d worked, she’d observed and made conclusions about the rest of Torchwood 3 Flight. The captain had an admirable jawline and enticing blue eyes, but despite his flirting and egoism– you could tell in seconds that he loved the sound of his own voice – there was a coldness behind his eyes and a dangerous edge to his smile. She trusted that sensation didn’t extend to his treatment of his soldiers. But as long as he was a good leader and helped them win the war, she would follow him and do her duty to the best of her abilities. And she knew she was good – no, she was bloody brilliant. She’d just had a rough day, that was all.

Owen Harper was a smug bastard, but she’d enjoyed her banter with him. She’d put him in his place, of course, and hoped he’d forgive her for the screwdriver to the head in the morning; maybe he’d even find it amusing.

Ianto Jones, her fellow countryman, was even colder than the captain. He held himself stiffer than cardboard, and his handshake when she was introduced was a little too firm. By chance, when they were firing back at the enemy ship, she’d glanced to her side and seen him aim with precision and barely a change in expression to indicate he was concentrating at all. She couldn’t help thinking that if he grew his hair a little longer than military standard permitted, he’d be the perfect bad boy, all dark hair and blue eyes and long legs.

Toshiko Sato, the only other woman in the flight and therefore Gwen’s roommate, was the one who fascinated her the most. Sato’s Japanese features and petite body easily made her one of the most beautiful women Gwen had ever had the fortune to lay eyes on. She seemed quiet and reserved, even with her captain, under whom she’d served for three years, ever since the war had moved to the next star system over, according to Harkness. Gwen had watched with interest as Sato ran the ship’s computer as if it were a child’s game, with a small smile that betrayed her enjoyment, even in battle. Sato had yet to say more than two words to Gwen, but her mistrust was understandable – Gwen had replaced the legendary Suzie Costello, after all.

Gwen punched her pillow into shape and climbed onto her bunk, mindful of the noise she was causing for Sato, who’d closed her eyes before Gwen had even gone for her shower. Gwen clapped to turn off the already dim light, and rolled onto her side.

After a few minutes of staring at the wall and trying to get accustomed to the scratchy sheets (the linen wasn’t so coarse back home, was it? It had been so long since she’d left Earth that she’d forgot) she rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling instead. Her hands rested on her stomach as she tried to slow her breathing and stop thinking, but she couldn’t stop reliving the day’s events, from her arrival on the ship and her introduction to Harkness, to her first battle with Torchwood 3, to a dinner whose ingredients she couldn’t identify.

“Give it a week and Harper will forgive you.” Sato’s voice interrupted her thoughts. The accent startled Gwen, but she assumed Sato must have spent some time in London. “Hey, Cooper?”

“Yes?”

“Try counting sheep. Aren’t you Welsh good at that?”

Gwen snorted. “I don’t know if there even are any sheep _left_ back home, anymore. Or people,” she added with several quick blinks. “It’s been so long since any of us had contact we have no way of knowing.”

“I’m sorry,” Sato replied.

“Me too.” Japan had been one of the first countries to be destroyed by a previously unknown alien race, and the planet had retaliated, announcing war on a species they called the Abaddon. Gwen had enlisted in the EAF, the Earth Armed Forces, and they’d driven off the Abaddon, or so they’d thought. A year later, the aliens had returned with reinforcements, but the leaders of Earth hadn’t wanted to make the planet a battlefield, so the EAF had chased the Abaddon to Alpha Centauri to confront them in neutral space. Fast forward three years and the war was unending, but with no contact from her home planet in all that time, there was no knowing if Gwen even had a home to defend anymore. Wales may well have joined Japan in its desolation.

“Sato?” Gwen enquired. “Why did you enlist?”

There was a long pause that made her regret asking a woman she’d only met that morning something so personal, but Sato finally answered, “I didn’t. I was conscripted.”

Oh, _shit._ “I’m sorry Sato, sometimes I forget when not to open my big mouth.”

“It’s okay,” replied Sato, and her tone lightened just a tinge. “I’m putting my skills to better use than I could at home, and I think of it as revenge against the Abaddon for destroying my home. I would have ended up enlisting anyway.”

“Oh.” Gwen bit her lip and turned onto her other side, the one not facing the wall. She expected her comrade to return the question, but Sato said nothing else except to wish her a good night.

“Good night, Sato,” she replied, sighing a little and pulling the covers up over her shoulders.

Her sleep was, for the majority, dreamless, except for a nightmare in which Harper chased her with a blood-soaked screwdriver.

* * *

One week and two skirmishes later, the ship needed maintenance on its exterior. Captain Harkness cut the engines and addressed the flight with a flashy smile (Gwen had named it the Harkness Grin; Harper had told her he called it the Prince Charming) and boomed, “Alright kids, here’s the deal.”

Harper groaned, while Jones rolled his eyes. Gwen marvelled at how they got away with their insolence, as it wasn’t the first time she’d seen them behave that way.

“Oh liven up,” said Harkness. “It’ll be fun!”

“You say that and yet I somehow get the feeling it won’t be,” Jones drawled.

Harkness snapped his fingers and pointed at Jones. “Stop that.” He turned to Gwen. “Ever done maintenance on the ship’s hull, Cooper?”

“Sir, yes sir,” she replied. “You can’t serve for three years and miss the great opportunity.”

He mustn’t have picked up on her sarcasm, for he grinned and said, “Brilliant. You and Sato can go out first to the bow, then Jones and Harper will do the port and starboard sides while I do the rear.” He laughed. “Oh yes, I’ll do the rear alright,” he sniggered to himself. No-one corrected his inaccurate terminology.

“Naturally, sir,” replied Sato with what had to be a knowing smirk. “But it’s breaking regulation to have us all outside at once; what if we’re attacked?”

“He said ‘then’ Jones and Harper,” Gwen pointed out.

“Apologies, Captain, I stand corrected.” Sato looked at the floor.

Harkness nodded his acceptance. “Any questions?”

Gwen stepped forwards. “When was the last maintenance done and what should we expect? Sir,” she added with a tug on her dark military cap. The standard uniform for the EAF was green, but elite flights wore black. She’d liked the switch – black suited everyone, whereas not many people could pull off khaki, and it also represented her promotion.

“It was fourteen days ago, so we can expect a lot of new scratches, dents, and chips in the paintwork,” the captain answered, then added, “Watch out for space debris; I’m sure I don’t have to remind you of the damaging powers of a speck of paint.”

She gave a sharp nod. “Sir, no sir.”

“Good. If that’s all, you can go out and do your job. Harper, let Cooper use your suit – you’re about the same size.”

“By that he means short and skinny,” Jones smirked.

Harper made to punch Jones’s arm, but Jones was too quick and caught the fist. “Excuse _you_ , I am not skinny, I’m wiry.”

“Whereas Cooper has all the right curves in all the right places,” drawled the captain, eyeing Gwen up and down.

Before she could respond that that was such a cliché and was it possible to have wrong curves in the right places, Jones was warning, “Careful, that’s harassment, sir.”

She shot him a thankful smile.

“I’ll harass _you_ in a minute.” Harkness winked at him.

From what she’d seen between them in the past seven days, Gwen didn’t doubt he would.

“Get a room, you two,” Harper piped up. “Some of us have actual jobs to do.” He turned to Gwen. “Come on newbie, I’ll get you a suit.”

As she followed him out of the meeting room, she exchanged exasperated glances with Sato. “Meet me inside the docking bay in ten minutes,” Sato told her.

Gwen smiled and gave her comrade a casual salute before going on her way.

Dressed in Harper’s spacesuit – white for visibility in space – she rocked up to the dock twelve minutes later.

“Ready?” asked Sato, clipping a cord to the belt of her suit.

“Yep.” Gwen did the same, then they attached their cords to loops just beside the metal exterior door. “You know, the first time I did this I was terrified my cord would break or the knot would come undone. Now I don’t even have to psych myself up for it. Funny how you just get accustomed to things, isn’t it?”

“Practice makes perfect,” Sato surmised, smiling a little.

“Right. And Torchwood is perfect.” Gwen lifted her helmet from where she’d set it on the floor and screwed it on over her head.

“That’s what they say.” Sato mirrored Gwen’s actions and activated the three-way radio, speaking into it as she put on a pair of gloves. “Radio check.”

“Reading you loud and clear,” Captain Harkness responded from the flight deck. “Cooper?”

“Reading you loud and clear, sir. How much oxygen do we have again?” she asked.

“About two hours’ worth. Why, feeling nervous?” Sato’s head swivelled towards her.

“Not at all,” Gwen reassured her, pulling on her gloves. “I just like having the facts upfront.”

“Ready for me to open the hatch?” Harkness checked.

Sato looked at Gwen and gave her a thumbs-up, so she declared, “Affirmative sir, we’re ready.”

“Opening hatch now,” Harkness announced, and Gwen thought she could hear a masculine Welsh voice say in the background, “I’ll open _your_ hatch tonight,” but she wasn’t certain.

The hatch opened like a rolling garage door and all the artificial gravity disappeared, sending Gwen and Sato flying. Gwen bumped into her comrade side-on, elbowing her in the chest.

“Shit, sorry,” Gwen apologised in answer to Sato’s grunt. She’d forgot that her grav boots weren’t activated.

“It’s fine, no harm done.”

Together, they made their way out of the hatch and onto the ladder that allowed them to climb around from the back of the ship to the front. When they reached the bow after several minutes, Gwen took a good look at the state of it and said, “Yikes.”

“You can say that again,” Sato sighed. “It’s going to be a long morning.”

Mornings didn’t mean much in space, but people still used the term whether there was a sunrise or not. It was just one of those Earth habits that couldn’t be broken.

Gwen reached for her duct tape, ripped off a centimetre, and stuck it over the nearest chip in the paintwork – if a bit had scratched or flaked off, the paint around it was susceptible to breaking off too, so they had to cover it. Since there was no gravity, paint would float around in blobs, so tape was the only way of covering the chips and scratches. Dents, however, couldn’t be fixed and had to be ignored.

Sato got to work beside her, and with their joint efforts they soon covered a square metre of the ship’s bow. Gwen stuffed her tape in her belt, ready to climb a metre to the right, when the captain barked over the radio, “Come in Sato, Cooper.”

“Go ahead,” replied Sato.

“There’s an asteroid coming at us from the starboard side, too small to have shown up on the radar earlier. Drop what you’re doing and get your asses inside the ship now, do you hear me?”

Gwen gasped, and even Sato dropped a minor expletive. “Copy, sir.”

“And _hurry_ ,” Harkness added. “I can’t move the ship to dodge this thing with you two outside and the hatch open.”

“Roger Wilco, sir.”

Gwen gripped the ladder and headed to her left, over the ship’s wing. If worst came to worst and they were still outside when the asteroid struck, at least they wouldn’t be hit in the initial impact. She looked over her shoulder to check that Sato was following, then scrambled around the side as fast as Zero G would let her. Her ragged breathing was loud in her helmet, and she was glad for the large quantity of oxygen, as she was surely using up twice as much as usual right now. Sato’s breathing over the radio wasn’t any slower or less laboured as they sprinted for safety.

“Ladies,” came Captain Harkness’s voice, “get your As into G. This asteroid is due to hit in two minutes; there’s no way to avoid collision now.”

“Two minutes?” Gwen did _not_ squeak.

“Come on,” Sato encouraged from behind, nudging her upper back. “It’s not far now.”

They had another five metres until they reached the hatch, so with her heart racing a hundred kilometres an hour, Gwen put one hand in front of the other and pushed her body forwards with her legs.

“One minute till impact!” warned Harkness. “Shutting hatch now.”

“Fuck!” Gwen pushed off from the side of the ship and into the dock. Sato wasn’t far behind, but she miscalculated the force needed to reach the inside. Gwen, seeing her comrade wasn’t going to make it, activated her grav boots and reached out to grab her. Sato’s gloved fingers touched hers, but she couldn’t get a grip and the contact sent her bouncing back into space with a scream.

“Captain!” Gwen shouted with a thickened accent. She couldn’t breathe. The hatch was halfway closed by now, and –

Sato had been flung back from the ship as far as her cord would allow, and Gwen had an idea. “Sato!” she yelled. “I’ll pull you in, but you have to help me by climbing along the rope while I pull, alright?”

“Okay,” Sato gasped, and began to hoist herself along the rope.

Gwen had the easy job, pulling from inside the docking bay with her feet flat on the floor, but the hatch was still closing and she had to get Sato back to the ship. She yanked the cord, never more grateful for weightlessness in space and military training, as in her old life she never would’ve been able to pull another adult towards her with a rope.

“Thirty seconds!” the captain barked. The hatch was almost closed.

With one last tug, the cord much shorter now, Gwen pulled Sato under the hatch and inside the dock. The metal door clanked shut, and the artificial gravity was switched back on. Throwing off their gloves and removing their helmets, Gwen and Sato lay on the floor panting.

“Ten seconds!” Harkness’s voice rang through the loudspeaker in the dock.

“We made it, sir,” Gwen puffed. “We made it.” She turned to Sato and laughed in relief.

“We made it,” Sato echoed with a grin.

The whole ship shook then, just as Harkness yelled, “Impact!”

But Gwen didn’t take much notice, as she was staring into Sato’s eyes and trying to catch her breath.

“Thanks,” Sato whispered, taking Gwen’s hand. “You saved my life.” Indeed, the claws on the hatch would have sawed through her safety cord and she would have been stranded in space with a depleting oxygen supply.

“You’re welcome, Sato.” Gwen squeezed her comrade’s hand and put all her warmth into a smile just for her.

Sato returned it, and Gwen couldn’t help wishing the Japanese woman would smile more often – she had a lovely smile that showed off excellent teeth and removed the crease from between her eyes.

“After all that just now, call me Tosh.”

* * *

Gwen had been with Torchwood for two months and experienced a change of spacecraft as the asteroid had rendered the ship no longer manoeuvrable, when it happened. Captain Harkness received word from his superiors that they were to join with the other legendary elite squadron, UNIT, in what they planned to be the last act of war against the Abaddon. Gwen stood between Tosh and Harper as the captain announced that they were to travel to the space base (as Jones called it) at Pluto II, where they would meet with UNIT and await further orders.

“That doesn’t make me nervous at all,” Jones commented.

“I don’t like it either,” Harkness admitted with a frown and a cross of his arms.

“But if it helps us win this war and get home, we should go ahead and do it, whether it’s dangerous or not,” Gwen pointed out, gesturing to enforce her point.

“As much as I hate and I mean _hate_ to say it, I agree with her.” Harper’s scowl seemed to be aimed at himself rather than at Gwen.

“Me too,” said Tosh. “One final push for victory against these monsters? Count me in.”

Harkness nodded. “Not that we’ve got a choice, unless any of you want to be court martialled.”

Gwen frowned. “I thought that was abolished in-”

He cut her off. “I need Sato and Jones’s navigation skills to plot a course straight for the… _space base_ at Pluto II, and then we’ll be on our way. Cooper, Harper, you guys can clean the cannons or something.” At their collective groan, he waved them off. “Shoo, you’re getting under my feet.”

Gwen sighed, and committed her morning to listening to Harper’s complaints. She wasn’t sure what he’d moan about today, but he always found something.

“What are you sighing about, Cooper?”

Ah, there it was, the topic of today’s complaints: her.

* * *

The space base (Gwen couldn’t help referring to it as that – it was a catchy name for it) in orbit around Pluto II was packed with soldiers from UNIT and the other Torchwood flights when they arrived. Captain Harkness got straight to work charming the pants off the steward, trying to convince her that he deserved his own cabin with a double bed, being a captain and all. Jones rolled his eyes so hard that Gwen worried he might hurt himself.

Gwen and Tosh were placed in the women’s barracks on the opposite side of the satellite, but Jones reminded them to report to their captain the following morning.

“Yes _sir_ ,” Gwen said with a mocking salute and pursed her lips to show she was joking.

He glanced at the captain and the steward. “Yeah, well, Jack’s otherwise engaged, neglecting to give the order himself,” he sighed.

“Who?” she teased.

He blushed. “I mean Captain Harkness. Slip of the tongue. I _am_ professional, really. Um…”

She took pity on him and laughed. “I was just kidding. Bloody cheer up, will you? This will all be over soon.”

“Of course you were,” he breathed, but it was lucky he hadn’t slipped up in front of anyone outside their flight. “Goodnight Cooper, Sato.”

They smiled and carried their packs to their dorm. The base was split into three barracks, one each for men, women, and those who didn’t identify as one or the other. Gwen and Tosh had been placed together in the Toliman dormitory with a random bunch of other Torchwood and UNIT soldiers, and while Gwen was thankful not to be on her own with a roomful of strangers, she also knew that there would be no privacy to chat once they were inside the dorm.

“So what do you think the offence strategy might be?” she asked, nudging her comrade to get her attention.

“I’m not sure,” replied Tosh, pushing up her glasses. When she was on duty she wore contacts, when not she wore carmine-coloured frames. Gwen thought the sexy librarian look suited Tosh in ways the woman was oblivious too, more than the black polyester military style, and wished she got to see it more often.

“I really don’t know if it’ll be a covert mission or a classic battle,” Tosh continued. “I assume tomorrow we’ll find out.”

“Yeah,” Gwen replied as they headed for the showers before lights out in an hour’s time. “I suppose we will.”

* * *

Two days later, Gwen clipped on her belt while Tosh put on her cap. The other women in the dorm were in various states of dress, but anxiety had caused Gwen to wake and get ready early, she and Tosh were good to go.

“Well,” she announced, “good luck,” and she gave her comrade a tight hug, cap dangling from her fingers.

The two were assigned separate tasks that complemented their individual skills – Gwen in an old-fashioned offensive on the battlefield (so to speak, considering they were in space) with Harkness and Harper; Tosh with Jones on a mission to disable the Abaddon’s life support systems across all vessels by attacking the network, the centre of which was on the enemy’s mothership. The EAF commanders had combined a strategic envelopment with electronic warfare, and a larger force from the rest of the EAF squadrons, already in wait behind Xenia, Pluto II’s moon, would attack the enemy from the rear once the smaller force – Torchwood and UNIT – confronted the Abaddon head-on.

“You too.” Tosh gave her a little squeeze, her almond-shaped eyes serious. “And stay alive, please? I don’t want to return to base and not be able to find you here. Think of all the time I’d waste!”

Gwen managed a giggle, then sighed and released Tosh. “Okay then.” She put her cap on over her dark hair, which was pulled back in a severe bun like every other soldier whose hair was long enough, pecked Tosh’s cheek, and strode to meet Captain Harkness and Harper, with whom she’d be fighting in a fighter ship similar in shape to the one Torchwood 3 Flight had originally had, but much smaller.

She saluted her captain. “Reporting for duty, sir.”

He nodded. “Ready, kids?” he asked her and Harper.

“Can’t wait,” Harper drawled.

“Let’s take these bastards down,” Gwen spat, and had to wipe a spot of saliva from her chin.

A voice came over the intercom, female and robotic and reminding Gwen of her secondary school principal, programmed into the satellite’s communication system. “Enemy force approaching, detected one thousand kilometres from current location. Soldiers report to your commanding officers immediately. All flights must proceed to the docking bay in six minutes.”

Harkness puffed out his chest. “Come on guys,” he said, and led the way to the dock.

Gwen’s heart beat in time with her footsteps as she follower her leader, Harper at her shoulder. Theirs being a smaller fleet who would be the first to face the Abaddon in this final combat, there was a much higher chance of, well, _death_. Space warfare was by no means ancient like terrestrial warfare, and a lot of strategies were far from tried and true, which was why the war had gone on for so long – the EAF commanders had to make guesses. She’d bet fifty pounds they would have won already if they’d fought on Earth.

Once in the docking bay, Gwen, Harper, and Harkness assembled by their ship. Harkness stood on the lower rung of the stepladder that gave them access to the fighter, placed his hands on his hips, and put on what Jones referred to as his command mask. Gwen and Harper exchanged unimpressed looks; they’d grown used to his theatrics.

“Want me to make an inspirational speech on us fighting for humanity today?” he asked, his loud American tone carrying across the room and gaining attention from other groups of soldiers.

“Save it for later, Captain,” Harper growled.

Gwen smiled at Harkness to show she appreciated the sentiment, but replied, “I’d rather listen to your victory speech afterwards, sir.”

“Remind me again what I did to get stuck with you two?” He scowled. “Iant- _Jones_ and Sato would have listened.”

“They have abnormal levels of patience,” Harper cut in. “Can we get on with it? I want to be back in time for tea.”

Captain Harkness nodded, and turned around and ascended the stepladder to the fighter ship. Harper extended his arm towards the hatch. “After you, Coops.”

She glared. “ _What_ did you just call me?”

“Sorry, _Cooper_.” He smirked. “How about a kiss for luck, this being our final battle and all?”

“As if.” She clambered up into the ship and took a seat at the laser cannon on Captain Harkness’s left. Harper joined them and closed the hatch behind him.

The same voice from the space base’s intercom came over the radio. “Enemy force detected five hundred kilometres from current location and rapidly approaching. Pilots, proceed.”

“See, she didn’t give a speech,” Harper pointed out as all fighter ships’ hatches were shut and pilots – Harkness in their case – started their engines. “I call that efficiency.”

“She’s a computer, she doesn’t have the ability to arouse with the power of words,” Gwen replied, fastening her seat belt.

“Harkness, don’t say a word,” Harper snapped, reading their captain’s mind, or maybe just his thought process.

“Wasn’t going to.” The Harkness Grin didn’t need to be seen, only heard in the words of his reply.

“You were,” said Gwen, stretching her neck and rolling back her shoulders in preparation for what could be either her longest or her shortest battle yet.

The ship in front of them took off and flew out of the hatch of the space base. They followed, at high speed at first in order to escape Pluto II’s orbit, then slowed to a more natural pace as they slipped into formation. Confirmations that each fighter was in place came over the radio, as did the information that the whole Abaddon force continued to approach even as the combined Torchwood and UNIT squadrons moved to engage them.

After a while, Gwen spotted a blink of red in the distance and cried out, pointing even though Harkness was facing away from her. Five minutes later, it was no longer a flash but a point visible to all occupants of the fighter ship.

“Enemy force detected two kilometres from current location.”

“Good eye, Cooper.” Harper sounded as surprised by his compliment as she was.

“Prepare to engage.”

Harkness flicked a switch and the fighter turned a degree to the left while Gwen and Harper stocked up on ammo and checked the settings on their cannons.

“Enemy force detected one kilometre from current location.”

“Okay kids, let’s do this.” Harkness pulled a lever and the fighter slowed, moving in time with the rest of the fleet.

“Okay,” Gwen breathed, and clenched her jaw in concentration.

The red Abaddon fleet was massive, seeming to reach for infinity, though Gwen knew that was the anxiety talking. She swallowed. Even if she didn’t survive this, she would die for a good cause, which was probably the topic of the speech Captain Harkness didn’t give, and she would go down fighting.

Out of nowhere, the fighter was struck by the Abaddon’s guns and nudged out of the formation. Gwen yelped as Harkness attempted to right the ship, and then the order came over the airwaves: “Fire at will.”

Gwen aimed her laser cannon and shot several rounds into the enemy ship nearest their own fighter. The clicks and bangs coming from the other side of the cabin indicated to her that Harper was doing the same. The closest enemy ship exploded in a silent, bright flash, still moving towards them but flying over their heads.

Commands, suggestions, and panicked shouts from the other fighters went in one of Gwen’s ears and out the other as she aimed and fired at the ship behind the one she’d just blown up, while Harkness slowed them down even further to prevent a collision and dodged left and right, up and down in order to escape the onslaught of enemy fire. Together, she and Harper turned four more ships into fireworks, and she was aiming at the next one when their fighter was sent spinning far away from the action and into empty space. Gwen, who’d undone her seatbelt in order to free herself so she could aim better, was thrown out of her seat and she hit her head on the cabin ceiling before landing in a heap on the floor with a cry of pain.

“You okay, Cooper?” Harper undid his seatbelt and went over to her.

“Yeah.” She sat up and touched the back of her head, wincing as she saw the blood on her fingers.

“Here, let me take care of that.” He grabbed the med kit from the locker at the back of the cabin and pulled out a bandage. “Hey, Captain?”

There was no reply.

Gwen frowned. “Sir?”

Harper exchanged an uneasy glance with her before going over to the pilot’s seat. “Shit.” Harkness was slumped over the controls with his head against the dashboard.

“Oh no,” Gwen gasped. “Is he…?”

“Breathing, but out cold,” Harper told her. Before she could sigh in relief, however, he was asking if she had any piloting experience at all.

“There was that one lesson-”

“Great, you can get us back to the space base – damn it, now I’m doing it too – cos this one,” he said, prodding Captain Harkness’s neck, “won’t be waking up in a hurry.”

She took a step back. “Oh, no no no no. No, Harper, I can’t-”

“Our captain is unconscious, and the other part of our fleet has begun the rear attack on the Abaddon. Fuck ‘em in the arse, I say.”

“Harper!”

His tone became more serious as he stated, “We can’t help them anymore.”

Before she could blink, he’d backed her up against the wall and was spitting in her face. “We are getting further and further away from where we’re meant to be. The longer it takes you to get in that seat, the sooner we run out of fuel and oxygen and die in fucking space.”

“Okay.” She nodded, depleted. “Okay.”

“Help me with him,” he said, grabbing one of the captain’s arms.

They dragged Harkness from the pilot’s seat and dropped him into Gwen’s. She took over the controls, but asked her one conscious comrade, not looking at him but at the nav screen in front of her, about her head.

“Just start on course and I’ll check you when we’re on our way back. Of course, when we return to base I can give you a much more thorough examination,” his voice dropped a pitch.

She didn’t answer for a second, busy entering coordinates on the ship computer, then she replied, “Thanks, Harper, but I think I’ll pass.”

She heard rather than saw his smirk. “You’re a dirty one, aren’t you,” he said, “turning everything I say into an innuendo.”

“You’re blaming _me_ ,” she checked, clicking a button here and flicking a switch there, “for taking something _you_ said as an innuendo?”

“Just shut up and drive, Coops.”

Concentrating hard on getting to know the controls, she let the nickname slide. Instead of punching _him_ , she punched the button that turned the fighter around 180 and hit the accelerator, equal amounts of fear and adrenaline pumping through her veins. She ignored the voices over the radio – not one of them was asking if they were okay – and flew.

A few minutes later, she jumped when Harper touched the back of her head. “What? Oh, right. Hurry up then,” she told him.

He tended to her wound and informed her that while it was possible she might have a concussion, she was still the only one on board the fighter who was capable of piloting the space craft, and that she should _not_ take her sweet time getting them back to base.

She agreed, and swallowed down a painkiller, focussing only on the task before her and not letting her thoughts wander to the outcome of the battle and the fates of those they’d left behind.

The flight back took far longer than the trip there, and when she landed the ship in the docking bay of the space base – a feat that she couldn’t have done without Harper’s threats in her ear – she had to refrain from bursting into tears. Harper called in a medical team to fetch Harkness, then the two of them climbed out of the fighter. She threw her arms around his neck, causing him to stagger.

“Whoa there, Coops, I think that concussion might be setting in.”

She pulled back and glared. “Call me that again and I’ll sock you one.”

He held up his hands in surrender.

Just then, the intercom switched on. “Enemy life support systems disabled. Probability of enemy survival: none. Victory for Earth: achieved.”

Gwen blinked, cheered, and threw her cap (which somehow had stayed on her head the entire time, even when she’d been thrown from her seat) in the air. Harper extended his hand and she shook it with glee.

“The war’s over,” she breathed, choking back tears.

“We won, Cooper, we fucking won.” He was grinning.

“Never thought I’d see the day you smile,” she commented with her own grin, turning away and heading for her dorm. She decided that she deserved a shower before everyone else returned.

“Make sure you get that concussion checked!” Harper called from behind her as she walked away.

“Not from you, I won’t!” She flounced off, and for once she was too elated to care that he might be looking at her arse.

* * *

An hour later, Gwen joined Captain Harkness, now awake, in the main hall as the fleet returned victorious. Dozens of Torchwood and UNIT soldiers she didn’t know entered the base whooping and spent no time reuniting with their friends. Gwen wrapped her arms around herself when it seemed that no-one else was coming and Tosh was nowhere to be seen.

“Where are they?” Harkness growled in her ear.

She looked up at him. “I don’t know,” she admitted in a whisper.

“They have to be alive. I can’t-”

“I know, sir.” She didn’t tell him that not only did she sympathise but she also empathised with him.

“I can’t lose him, Cooper,” he said, pleading at her with blue eyes – often amused yet always cold – that bore into her soul. They were eyes that had given up hope.

She gulped. “Wait here sir and I’ll ask if anyone knows-”

Three more soldiers in black stumbled into the hall, and Harkness ran from her side to take Jones in what appeared a bone-crushing embrace and kiss him in a very unprofessional and revealing manner. _Oh._ Gwen tore her gaze away from their private moment and jogged over to Tosh, who was grinning.

“What took you so long?” asked Gwen.

“Oh, you know, just switching off the life support systems of our greatest enemy ever and trying not to get caught.” Tosh waved a hand in the air like it was nothing, but Gwen knew the truth.

“Are you okay? Is that blood?” She pointed at Tosh’s cheek.

“I’m fine. Everything’s fine,” Tosh breathed.

“I know.” Gwen grinned, sweeping the other woman into a hug. “Tosh, we’re going home.” And she tugged off Tosh’s cap and kissed her.

“What was that for?” asked Tosh afterwards, touching her lips.

“For being here, with me, right now,” Gwen explained.

Later, Gwen would question whether the end of the war justified the means, but in _this_ moment Tosh was smiling again, and it was like the sun coming out after an endless gloomy week in Wales. They’d won the war, and they were going home to their beautiful Earth.


End file.
